The economics of popular media are in flux. For years, the "streaming wars" prioritized subscriber growth over profit. Now, Wall Street wants profitability. Consequently:
This friction is leading to "subscription fatigue." The average household now pays for 4-5 streaming services. As costs mount, we are seeing a resurgence of piracy and a return to ad-supported free TV (via services like Tubi and Pluto TV).
To understand where entertainment content and popular media is going, we must first look back. For most of the 20th century, popular media was a monologue. Three major television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) and a handful of film studios dictated what the public consumed. If you wanted to watch a show, you tuned in at 8 PM on Thursday. If you missed it, you missed the cultural conversation. OopsFamily.23.11.13.Kay.Lovely.Family.Crush.XXX...
The arrival of cable television in the 1980s and 1990s began to fracture this model. MTV, HBO, and ESPN proved that audiences craved specificity. However, the true revolution began with the internet. Napster, YouTube (founded in 2005), and Netflix’s transition from DVD-by-mail to streaming in 2007 shattered the gatekeeping model entirely.
Suddenly, entertainment content was no longer scarce. It was infinite. The economics of popular media are in flux
What does the next decade hold for entertainment content and popular media?
One of the most heartening trends in entertainment content and popular media is the collapse of geographic barriers. Thanks to subtitles and dubbing, Squid Game (South Korea) became Netflix’s most popular show ever. Money Heist (Spain) and Lupin (France) have massive US followings. This friction is leading to "subscription fatigue
Streaming services realized that a hit in Seoul can be a hit in Kansas. This has led to a "global content arms race," where studios invest heavily in local-language originals with universal themes. The monoculture is gone, replaced by a global mosaic.
The "shared universe" model, pioneered by Marvel, dominated popular media for a decade. However, 2023-2024 has shown signs of "superhero fatigue." Meanwhile, smaller, character-driven films like Everything Everywhere All at Once and Oppenheimer have found massive audiences, proving that entertainment content does not need a cape to succeed.
Conversely, the rise of "eventized" content—where the social experience matters as much as the film—has given us Barbenheimer. This phenomenon, where two diametrically opposed films (the bubblegum Barbie and the grim Oppenheimer) were watched as a double feature, shows that popular media thrives on memes, shared jokes, and collective participation.